The ramblings of a pilgrim through time, space, and life.

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Albert Docks

As I have written some of the histories already posted and continue the drafts of a few for later, I am surprised how many of my ancestors came through Albert Docks in Liverpool, England. Most of my ancestors that came to America during the 1800’s came in the latter part of the century and passed through this series of warehouses/docks. Doing some research, this was the first non-combustible warehouse system in the world. The world’s first hydraulic cranes were also used here.

I took this picture on 13 April 1999 as we visited as a part of our mission tour. Since so many church history sites were in our mission, we were taken on tour and the Albert docks were included. At that time I had no knowledge that a single one of my ancestors walked these very stones. Since a good portion of my ancestry is German, I assumed they would not have traveled through Liverpool. I was wrong. As far as I can tell, every ancestor that immigrated in the 19th century came through this very port. German, Swedish, Norwegian, English, Welsh. One was even married on the water as they waited for their turn to leave the port.

Looking back, I wish I had known this at the time. But still, I am glad I have a picture from that day I visited. You can see The Three Graces between the Albert buildings. The Royal Liver Building is the farthest with the clock tower. This building also has the storied Liver birds on the top of each tower. The next building is the Cunard Building, built by the Shipping Company. The closest one, with the dome, is the Port of Liverpool Building. All three are pretty buildings and when I lived across the Mersey in Liscard, I would often see these impressive buildings from the opposite shore. I had no idea Albert Dock even existed then, otherwise I may have snapped a shot of it at that time.